Making Waves at Kids’ Ocean Day!

On May 24th, I Love A Clean San Diego celebrated its 20th Kids’ Ocean Day, fostering the next wave of environmentally informed and engaged students. Kids’ Ocean Day is not just an excuse for students to hang out at the beach during the school day. It actually begins weeks before in the schools with ILACSD staff facilitating educational presentations for local elementary school students! These students then join ILACSD and a team of volunteers at the beach for a litter cleanup and the formation of an aerial art piece.

During the assemblies, ILACSD educators teach students about the importance of marine life, how their actions affect the ocean, and how they have the power to protect the health our environment. “It was absolutely fantastic. We had kids eager to go to other beaches to clean them up. I can’t say enough good things about how much the kids loved the assembly,” said one teacher from Los Peñasquitos Elementary. The teacher explained how they loved their students being able to see others come together to make a difference for their community during the beach cleanup. The teacher was thrilled to have their students participate in Kids’ Ocean Day, saying, “Thank you so much for this incredible experience. We can’t thank you enough for this opportunity.”

Over the 20 years that ILACSD has hosted Kids’ Ocean Day, we have engaged 20,816 participants and removed approximately 7,280 lbs. of debris from San Diego’s coastline. 

Each year, the five participating California cities determine a statewide-theme for the artwork. The 2018 theme – “Waves of Change” – evokes images of our youngest generations propelling us forward towards a cleaner, safer, and more mindful future. It illustrates how our daily choices, including what we eat, wear, discard, and purchase, have far-reaching effects. This message is broadcast to the world through the art formation. It serves as a call to action for others to join the cause and be mindful of consumption and disposal habits. Check out the video below to see the final aerial art image being formed!

Students collected plastic debris on Mission Beach using re-purposed water jugs!  

“Kids’ Ocean Day is my favorite day of the year,” said Emily Nelson, Education Manager at I Love A Clean San Diego. “This entire event, from the assembly to the cleanup and aerial artwork, showcases the power of the individual, no matter their age. I hope each child realizes just how important and powerful they are.”

We would not have been able to make “Waves of Change” without the help of our sponsors, our volunteers, teachers, and students!

Thank you to all of our Kid’s Ocean Day sponsor for investing in a cleaner San Diego!

California’s Coastal Commission’s Whale Tail Grant Program and
the Protect Our Coast and Oceans Fund
Qualcomm Foundation
Cox Communications
Jack in the Box
Bumble Bee Seafoods
Alta Environmental
Wells Fargo
CRC CARES
U.S. Bank
ViaSat
Kohl’s
Einstein Bagels
Starbucks
Outside the Lens

Be a Wave of Change at Kids’ Ocean Day

This May, I Love A Clean San Diego will bring 1,000 elementary school students, teachers, and volunteers to the beach to become a living piece of artwork at South Mission Beach to celebrate the annual Kids’ Ocean Day. Through a partnership with the California Coastal Commission, ILACSD will host San Diego County’s 20th Annual Kids’ Ocean Day! Kids’ Ocean Day kicks off before we even reach the beach with in-school assemblies to educate the students on the importance of our ocean, how it is being harmed due to human actions, and how we each play a role in protecting the health of our oceans. Then, on May 24th, these students will unite in a beach cleanup, followed by the formation of an image only visible from the sky. Check out the video below to get a glimpse of what to expect at Kids’ Ocean Day.

This year, the statewide theme is “Waves of Change,” evoking the powerful force we can be when united in our actions. Forming the aerial art message through the collective efforts of each individual sitting in the sand is a perfect metaphor for how our combined daily habits like refusing single-use plastics have incredible power in shaping the health of our environment. We are grateful to have so many young participants engaging in this cause and hope this event will propel their momentum in acting as wise environmental stewards.

Revealing I Love A Clean San Diego’s 2018 Kids’ Ocean Day “WAVES OF CHANGE” Aerial Art Design:

2018 Kids’ Ocean Day Aerial Art Design

 

If you would like to be a part of this event, we’re looking for adult volunteers (18 years of age and older) to lead students during the cleanup and the aerial art. If you’re interested, you can find more details on the Kids’ Ocean Day event page or register here! As a thank you, all volunteers will receive a photo of the completed aerial art image as a keepsake! We hope you’ll come together with us this year to be a wave of change for our environment!

Coming Together for a Cleaner San Diego

Volunteers power all of our cleanups, like our two annual countywide cleanups, Creek to Bay and Coastal Cleanup Day.

As the days cool down, the chill in the air hints at the year coming to a close soon. At ILACSD, we are taking this time to reflect on yet another successful year working to keep our community clean and safe for everyone alongside a dedicated, committed team of volunteers, sponsors, and donors. Thanks to your generous support in the form of time, energy, and financial gifts, together we have accomplished some incredible things this past year.

In 2017, YOU came together with I Love A Clean San Diego to accomplish incredible feats. Together in 2017 we:

Removed 400,000 lbs of litter | Mobilized 32,000 volunteers | Educated 28,000 students

These are just a few of the tremendous outcomes we have carried out together, but that’s not all! As a direct result of your support in 2017, we conducted 265 countywide cleanup events and delivered 650 educational presentations on the importance of caring for the environment (we even managed to have a little fun while we were at it too!). Our efforts will have a lasting impact on future generations. We feel honored to be working alongside you to make our San Diego a place where everyone has the opportunity to revel in our countless majestic outdoor spaces.

Students at our Annual Kids’ Ocean Day love to enjoy the beach while they clean it up!

As we prepare for another year, we ask – will you help us do even more in 2018? Financial gifts to ILACSD ensure that our education, recycling, and community cleanup programs teams are able to reach all parts of San Diego County and provide this important work.

Every donation helps so much!

$50 can equip 25 volunteers at our cleanups with reusable work gloves.
$100 can supply the equipment to clean and beautify one community park.
$250 can provide 50 underserved youth with the transportation needed to participate in Kids’ Ocean Day.

We hope you will help us do even more for the community we all love in 2018! Visit CleanSD.org to make your tax-deductible gift today.

Oh, and don’t forget #GivingTuesday is coming up on Tuesday, November 28, 2017! Be sure to follow ILACSD on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Share you support on social media with an “UN-selfie” and use the hashtags #GivingTuesday and #ILACSD.

COME TOGETHER: Kids’ Ocean Day 2017

I Love A Clean San Diego once again partnered with the California Coastal Commission for our 19th annual Kids’ Ocean Day. On May 18, 2017, over 900 students, teachers, and volunteers united together to clean up Mission Beach and the surrounding area. These dedicated 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders rallied together from 7 local schools to protect our oceans by collecting thousands of pieces of litter and marine debris. Common items found during the cleanup included small pieces of plastic, snack wrappers, straws, and Styrofoam. The students’ cooperative energy and childlike verve were tangible on the beach that day.

Students from Porter Elementary show off the waste they collected and their shirts decorated with this year’s theme – COME TOGETHER.
Students from Porter Elementary show off the waste they collected and their shirts decorated with this year’s theme – COME TOGETHER.

Following the cleanup, students united with community volunteers to form an aerial art image. One of the most common questions we receive is, “how do you make the aerial art happen?” Here’s a peek behind the curtain:

Each year, I Love A Clean San Diego’s education department designs an aerial art image that follows the statewide theme for all 5 Kids’ Ocean Day partners. On the day of the event, the ILACSD aerial art team assembles before daybreak to produce the much-anticipated image. Equipped with irrigation flags, surveyor’s tape, and extra-long measuring tapes, our amazing staff spend the wee hours of the morning meticulously plotting each and every point of the aerial artwork image. This year’s theme – COME TOGETHER – draws on the power we have when united in our efforts to protect and defend the oceans and coastlines from pollution.

As students began to file into the formation, anticipation was high; everyone was excited to see the helicopter fly overhead, photographer inside, capturing our hard work from the sky. It was a gratifying moment to see all the students, teachers, volunteers, and staff sit in stillness within the image for 10 brief minutes. After months of planning, we were all rewarded with a powerful piece of art so vast it can only be seen from the sky.KAAB2017finalimage

The success of the day could be measured by the faces of the beaming students. They felt a sense of accomplishment from doing their part to help clean up the environment. The students now stand united as true “Scholars for the Sea!”

Kids’ Ocean Day is a magnificent event that helps to bring environmental awareness and stewardship to the forefront of these students’ minds. It is a day of joining forces and demonstrating to the kids what it means to work together as one. The students walked away from Kids’ Ocean Day feeling empowered and armed with the understanding that their personal choices have power and their everyday actions will impact our environment and our future.

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Come Together This Kids’ Ocean Day

2016 kids ocean day volunteers at beach
Alaine
Today’s blog post was written by Education Specialist, Alaine

We’re counting down the days for the 24th Annual Kids’ Ocean Day on Thursday, May 18th at South Mission Beach!

Last year, 950 students, teachers, and volunteers called for a “sea change” with this powerful image, reminding individuals to be conscious of their impact on the Pacific Ocean:

2016 kids ocean day aerial view
2016 Kids’ Ocean Day Aerial Design

 

This year, students from eight Title 1 schools across the county, along with students across four other cities in California, will attend an assembly about ocean conservation, learning how we’re connected to the ocean through the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the beaches we use for recreation. Students will then put their knowledge to practice and get hands-on experience protecting our marine environment.

2016 kids ocean day volunteers at beach

They will begin their day picking up litter across the beach to learn firsthand how different kinds of pollution travel through the watershed and harm our ocean. For some students, this unique experience will be their first visit to the beach!

kids' ocean day volunteer

Following their hard work cleaning up the beach, each student will make their mark with our aerial art image. As small, individual dots in the big picture, they will unite to call humans to “come together” as protectors of our environment. Just how hundreds of people create a beautiful and powerful image in the sand, our combined small actions have a significant impact on the condition of our oceans. With over 5 trillion pieces of plastic floating in the world’s oceans, and a Pacific Garbage Patch growing to be twice the size of Texas, this is a crucial time to unite our efforts and address global problems to create a cleaner future.

2017 kids ocean day aerial design
2017 kids ocean day aerial design

If you would like to be a part of this event, we’re looking for adult volunteers (18 and older) to lead students during the cleanup and the aerial art. If you’re interested, please register here. As a thank you, all volunteers will receive a photo of the completed aerial art image as a keepsake! Stay tuned to our social media channels (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) on May 18th to see the final image.

The Play-by-Play of Kids’ Ocean Day

Hats off to another successful Kids’ Ocean Day – ILACSD’s 18th and the state’s 23rd  annual event! Kids’ Ocean Day is a unique, annual event centered on engaging our youth as environmental stewards. After a school assembly about ocean conservation, 3rd-5th grade students from eight Title 1 schools around the county joined together at South Mission Beach to leave a lasting impact on their environment.

Take a look at how we spent the day!

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Staff arrived at 5:00 AM to lay the aerial art design in the sand.

 

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Volunteer groups, like Kohl’s Associates in Action, led students during the cleanup to ensure the day ran smoothly!

 

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Thanks to additional sponsorship this year, ILACSD provided 50 reusable buckets for the cleanup, reducing the amount of disposable trash bags used at this event.

 

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Volunteers reviewed safety tips for the cleanup and got students energized for the day!

 

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Over 950 students, teachers, and volunteers participated in a beach cleanup, ensuring fewer pieces of land litter become marine debris.

 

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Zero Waste in action! Most students created temporary trash bins from repurposed milk jugs, which they later recycled.

 

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Fresh air + fresh dance moves + a freshly cleaned beach = a great day.
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Students waiting patiently for the helicopter to circle overhead and capture the perfect shot of the aerial art.

And lastly, the official image! Great job, team! To get involved with an upcoming event, please visit CleanSD.org!

Aerial Art - Kids' Ocean Day 2016

Unique Partnership Captures Cross-Border Message

SONY DSCFor today’s blog, ILACSD’s Development & Marketing Coordinator, Sarah, collaborated with Lucy Eagleson, Program Coordinator & Media Educator from Outside the Lens (OTL) to highlight one of ILACSD’s most cherished partnerships. Read on to learn more about how we meshed digital media and environmental stewardship to bring our Kids’ Ocean Day aerial art to life!

First, a little bit of background information about OTL, Lucy and how this partnership came to be.

Lucy spends a lot of her time as a Media Educator in San Diego classrooms, helping students find their voice within and express it through digital media arts. By looking at current and historical photography and films, students come to understand that a picture is often worth a thousand words, and sometimes even more. Lucy enjoys partnering with I Love A Clean San Diego for Kids’ Ocean Day because it brings together her passion for photography and making a difference in our community.

Kids' Ocean Day 2012
Kids’ Ocean Day 2012

 

ILACSD staff have worked together with OTL for Kids’ Ocean Day for many years now, but this year we threw Lucy a curve ball – a bi-national aerial art image. Without going into too many details, a bi-national aerial art image posed some challenges for Lucy and the Corporate Helicopter team, but at the end of the day we couldn’t be happier with the end result.

Lucy Eagleson - OTL
“I believe in the power of images and the stories they tell. Images speak where words cannot, and carry within them beautiful narratives that have the momentum to move people to change.” – Lucy Eagleson, OTL

Close to 1,200 students, their teachers and volunteers from both sides of the border came together to remove harmful pieces of beach debris along Border Field State Park and Playas de Tijuana. After the cleanup, one-by-one, the students filled into the aerial art outline to form this year’s cross-border aerial art image and commemorate the first-ever bi-national Kids’ Ocean Day! Below is one of our favorite pictures of the aerial art formation coming to life!

Students filling in the aerial art formation and patiently waiting for Lucy in the helicopter to capture the art from the sky!

 

This stunning image clearly demonstrates that we all need to do our part to protect our environment and that the ocean knows no borders. The message reads “UNITE POR EL MAR” which translates to unite for the sea. This image has received an overwhelming response on social media and from local media alike, for which we are extremely grateful.

UNITE POR EL MAR!
First-ever bi-national Kids’ Ocean Day aerial art image!

It goes without saying that a special “thank you” goes out to Outside The Lens, Lucy, and the Corporate Helicopter team for capturing this powerful image!

Be sure to follow and like ILACSD and OTL on your favorite social media networks to stay connected to the great work happening year-round!

Facebook logo Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/iloveacleansd

https://www.facebook.com/OutsideTheLens

 

Twitter_logo_blueTwitter:

https://twitter.com/iloveacleansd – @ilacsd

https://twitter.com/OutsideTheLens – @OutsideTheLens

instagram logo Instagram:

https://instagram.com/iloveacleansd/

https://instagram.com/outsidethelens/

 

About Outside the Lens – Outside the Lens empowers youth to use digital media to create change within themselves, their community, and the world. Students see how the power of their photos can speak louder than words and even inspire change in the community around them. 

www.outsidethelens.org

 

Kids’ Ocean Day Migrates South this Winter!

Erika-teamToday’s blog comes from our Education Coordinator and Kids’ Ocean Day extraordinaire, Erika! Each year, ILACSD invites students to see first-hand how pollution negatively impacts our ocean as well as the opportunity to send a powerful message to the greater San Diego community through aerial art – but this year there is a twist. Read on to see what’s new about this year’s Kids’ Ocean Day and how you can get involved!

What does it look like, when 1000 students, teachers, and volunteers come together to actively conserve the environment? This:

2014 Kids’ Ocean Day aerial art formation
This is the image of the 2014 Kids’ Ocean Day aerial art formation.

 Join us Thursday, February 26th from 8am – noon at Border Field State Park!

For the past 12 years, I Love A Clean San Diego has participated alongside 5 Californian cities to celebrate World Oceans Day through Kids’ Ocean Day; a program funded by the California Coastal Commission. This is a multifaceted event, starting with an ocean conservation assembly, then students have the opportunity to take action through a beach cleanup, and can educate others by creating a message that can be seen from the sky.

microplastics_TheGuardianThis couldn’t be happening at a better time. Right now, our oceans are in trouble. Data show our oceans are inundated with trash, specifically plastic pollution. Each of our five major gyres has garbage patches; our local North Pacific Gyre has three. Microplastics, which create a plastic soup in our oceans, are found to absorb chemicals in the ocean, creating a cesspool of toxic waste animals cannot escape. Millions of animals die annually of starvation, with bellies full of plastic. Now is when we need a change. Now is when we need help. We need help to keep our oceans alive.

albatrossAfter educating students on information like the Pacific Garbage Patch and Midway Atoll, I find that most students immediately want to make a change and take action. Kids’ Ocean Day provides this opportunity. This year, we are taking it a step further. This year, we are expanding our program to include not one, but two nations. The ocean is one thing that connects the global world, so we feel like we should act globally through a bi-national Kids’ Ocean Day. Students from both sides of the border will be participating in a beach cleanup and then will create an aerial art image that spans two countries. This year’s image celebrates the ocean while asking for help. It is a message from the ocean, which will read “Unite por el mar” / “Unite for the sea!”


UNITE POR EL MAR!

At this time, we are still in the process of recruiting volunteers. If you are interested in helping and celebrating the ocean, please contact Lexi at lambrogi@cleansd.org. Unite por el mar!

Show Some Love for Our Coast (and Canyons): Adopt A Beach!

Yesterday, local San Diego company The Control Group rounded up its employees for a cleanup.  But this wasn’t just any cleanup- the Control Group was out at their very own “adopted” beach, Pacific Beach.  So how can you or your company get in on this cool program, encourage employee engagement, help the environment, and even get free recognition signage?

Adopt-A-Beach gives people of all ages the opportunity to learn about and actively participate in conserving coastal resources. ILACSD’s most popular volunteer program, AAB involves over 10,000 volunteers annually!

The Control Group team, out enjoying their beach
The Control Group team, out enjoying their beach

The Adopt-A-Beach program is not just about trash. It’s about the need for clean oceans, shorelines, and waterways. It is about Californians acting together to create lasting solutions to marine pollution. Our oceans and waterways have been a dumping ground for man-made debris. The harmful effects of marine debris are severe and include:

  • Negative economic and aesthetic impacts
  • Harm and risk to human health and safety
  • Injury and death to animals through entanglement and ingestion
  • Habitat destruction

I Love A Clean San Diego has expanded the Adopt-A-Beach program to include inland areas, in order to highlight the fact that almost 80% of marine debris originates from inland sources. By adopting a canyon or park inland, your group can prevent trash from making its way to waterways and eventually the ocean.

Revised-AAB-Bumper-Sticker-Beaches

What beach would you chose to adopt? Visit the program website at www.AdoptSD.org for more information and sign up!

You can also help support this free program by providing a donation to ILACSD.

A Big Welcome To Our Community Events Intern, Maddy!

Today’s blog post comes from Maddy Kutsch. Welcome, Maddy-we’re so excited to have you on board!maddy

I joined I Love A Clean San Diego almost a month ago now (Woo!) as a Community Events intern and enjoy every second of it! I am focusing on creating maps of cleanup sites and other ILACSD programs through ArcMap, a mapping and geospatial information program. Recently, I completed a map of Storm Drain Stenciling locations completed by volunteers in the last three years in order to discover missed locations in the City of San Diego that may not have been otherwise apparent. I also finished a map of our Adopt A Beach locations alongside the schools that received visits from our Education Department, so that schools can see which cleanup sites are convenient and practical to potentially adopt. Currently, I am starting to undertake a mapping project to determine the countywide use of the R-1-EARTH Recycling hotline by comparing the origins of calls with volunteer-reported hazardous waste dump sites across the county. It will be a challenging project, and I cannot wait to continue to aid I Love A Clean San Diego through digital analysis and mapping.

On June 6, I was lucky enough to be a part of ILACSD’s annual Kids’ Ocean Day, a massive event encompassing almost 1,000 children and resulting in a huge areal art image (if you want to learn more about the event and see our photo, head over to http://cleansd.org/e_programs.php). I still feel honored to have been included in the event, and it will be something I remember forever.

Here I am at Kids' Ocean Day, measuring out the grid for our aerial art.
Here I am at Kids’ Ocean Day, measuring out the grid for our aerial art. Despite my very serious face, I was super excited about the project!

Currently, I am a San Diego State student, about to begin my final year of my Bachelor’s degree in Geography: Environmental Resource Analysis. I am also in the process of completing SDSU’s certificate in Geospatial Information Systems, so that I can work with digital maps in the future. After this year, I plan on pursuing a Masters in Geography either in San Diego or Los Angeles.

In my free time, I geek out and create costumes for the upcoming San Diego ComicCon (nothing fancy, just for me!). I also travel when I have the money, and have visited many countries around the world. This exposure to other countries in varying degrees of urbanization and development sparked my passion for sustainable growth and environmental awareness at all levels of economic and social class, and I am excited to further discover how I Love A Clean San Diego creates positive environmental change in the community.